


A Night to Remember

by chaosruby



Series: The AU collection [2]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Overwatch, Alternative Universe - Overwatch, Costumes, Day of the Dead, Disguise, F/M, Fluff, Halloween, Halloween Costumes, Love, Overwatch Family, Party, Romance, Spirits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-12
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2019-01-30 22:39:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12662892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaosruby/pseuds/chaosruby
Summary: On the 31st of October, Ava is allowed to come back from the dead and wander amongst the living for the night. Yet, there's just one condition - she must be completely disguised by a costume and cannot tell anybody who she truly is. She finds herself going to the same party as the cowboy she's in love with, in hopes that he will recognise her and give her an evening she will remember forever, as her real body rots six feet underground.





	A Night to Remember

**Author's Note:**

> This was an idea that I truly felt I could stretch and make into a wonderful little fic. I love McCree and I love Halloween, so it was a perfect match. The Halloween Overwatch skins were brilliant this year and I may or may not feature some of them in here. I hope this was written how you would imagine it to be!

After half a year of being buried in the ground, you'd think Ava would be used to being dead. She wasn't, though. She spent her time locked in her coffin trying to find loopholes in the grim reaper's rules and regulations that could let her see her beloved Jesse just one more time so she could tell him how much she truly loved him and to see how their daughter was getting on in her first year at pre-school.

When Ava first realised she was dead, she wanted to scream and cry - but as a simple conscience in an immobile body, you can't do much but think and think and think. It's like being stuck on a broken record; you can't continue to live anymore, but you can still hear all of your thoughts. She could hear Jesse's desperate cries at the side of her hospital bed, but she couldn't move. She couldn't sit up and tell him she was okay, because she wasn't. She was dead.

Soon enough, Ava was laid into a coffin and forgotten about in the grounds of the local church. However, she just cracked the code at just the right time. She summoned the grim reaper to her mind and he came, reluctantly. He was tired of her attempts but this time was different.

"Halloween is the day of the dead!" She exclaimed as he arrived.

"And what do you propose I do with that information, Miss Ava?" He questioned, his dark booming voice echoing into the dark abyss of her mind.

"According to the rules of the grim reaper, a select few are allowed to roam the streets for exactly one evening as long as they are concealed by a disguise and don't mention who they are. It's perfect!" Ava squealed.

"As said, it is only for a select few. Do you know how those people are picked?" He taunted, "They are people who have been dead for years and deserve a night on land, you are a selfish spoilt human who would be stealing another's precious time."

"I'm not selfish or spoilt! And the person who rammed their car into me, because they refused to stop at the traffic lights, is the one responsible for stealing precious time - not me." Ava announced, a slight growl in her tone. "It is just one night. It's all I need and it's taken me months to figure it out, you must grant my wish!"

Ava heard a deep sigh, before his gruff voice could be heard once again.

"Very well. Your day on earth starts in 2 hours. You will have a full 6 hours on Earth but you must remain fully disguised in an outfit of your choosing. You will appear above your grave at precisely 6pm on the 31st of October. Spend your evening wisely and you will be punished severely if you are to reveal yourself to anyone. Is that clear?"

"Crystal. But what punishment is worse than death?" Ava pondered, but the reaper ignored her and left her to her own devices.

Finally, she was allowed back into the real world. She was so excited that the time flew by so quickly, that she soon found herself standing above the very grave that she was once laying in. She stretched her limbs happily, astonished that she could see the darkening sky once more. Ava looked at her blood stained skin and remembered what her disguise was. She had chosen to become a nurse. This was because they had a mask that covered their mouth and nose, which meant she could hide her face partly to decrease the chance of somebody recognising her completely. People could only see her bright mesmerising blue eyes instead.

It took Ava a while to get used to walking again. Her body felt stiff and she looked a bit robotic as she took small sharp steps out of the church's graveyard. She found it weird to have to breathe again, her nostrils flaring every so often as she inhaled deeply without thinking. As she got used to the process of living again, she quickened her pace and then found herself outside of her old house.

Music blared from large speakers in the back garden and her soft knock on the door generated no answer, so she made her way around to the party using the side gate. Her eyes instantly flashed to the gorgeous brunette wearing a cowboy hat standing next to his friend Gabriel, a bottle of beer in their grips as they surveyed the oversized back garden. It seemed like the whole street was here as people huddled in small crowds, the buzz of conversation in the air. The children, including Ava's precious little girl, were playing together; their laughter like music to Ava's ears.

"I'd like you to be my nurse." 

Ava found herself lost for words as the one and only Jesse McCree stood beside her. She opened her mouth to speak but he spoke again.

"I'm sorry, I can't control my words when I have a drink. Are you new to the neighbourhood? You seem familiar, but I haven't seen you around before. What's your name, darlin'?" He questioned, taking a sip of his drink.

"Yeah, I'm new. Uh," She gulped, talking quickly as the nerves took over, "My name is A - uhm - Annie!"

"Woah there, don't you talk fast?" He chuckled, "Well it's nice to meet you Annie, I'm Jesse. I'm glad you decided to drop by, it's always nice to see new faces around here."

A pang of sadness hit Ava like a ton of bricks as he didn't even recognise her, but she knew she couldn't do anything about it. She had silently hoped that by looking into her eyes that he would have wrapped his muscular arms around her and never let go. So she hid her sadness by smiling behind her nurses mask, her eyes squinting slightly with happiness as she nodded at Jesse.

"It's nice to meet you too, Jesse." She replied, fiddling with a strand of her hair nervously.

He stared at her briefly before offering her a drink. She accepted, desperate to know what it felt like to have a beverage again - and an alcoholic one at that. 

"What do you fancy? We have almost everything!" He laughed, walking her through the patio doors and into the kitchen.

The kitchen work surface was filled with drinks. There was three cooler boxes filled with beer and cider, and a stack of plastic cups right next to them. There was also a huge mixture of different soft drinks and spirits, ready for people daring to mix up a drink. Ava couldn't help but blurt out her favourite drink.

"Can I have Dr. Pepper with a splash of Disaronno?" 

"Uhm," Jesse seemed uneasy for a moment but he span around quickly and started to pour the two different liquids into a cup, "Of course you can, sorry about that - that was my girlfriend's favourite drink, she's unfortunately not with us anymore. I'm so sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Ava breathed, taking the cup from his hands. "I'm sorry for your loss. I truly am, Jesse."

The moment their fingers brushed against one another, they stared intently at each other. Ava begged to herself that Jesse had felt the electric connection between their touch, but he hadn't. Instead, he smiled at her. 

"It's fine, I know she wouldn't want me to keep moping around. This is the first party I've held since her death, apart from our daughter's fifth birthday of course, but that was more of a family thing." He blabbed on, taking her back outside, "Would you like to meet some of my friends and other neighbours? I'd love for you to meet my daughter Arabella, she's a right little beauty. She definitely takes after her mother."

"I would love to meet everyone!" Ava replied, her heart beating at the mention of her daughter's name. "Especially your daughter, I love kids!"

"Have you got any of your own?" Jesse asked with a small smile.

"Yes!" Ava replied quickly, instantly regretting it. "Just the one."

"Really?" Jesse grinned, "How old? Is it a girl? I'd love for Arabella to make a new friend. You could have brought her with you!"

"Yeah, she's also five. She's a spoilt little princess and I love her with all my heart, but I haven't been able to see her the last six months due to horrible circumstances." Ava felt her cheeks heating up as her eyes began to water as she spoke, blinking her lids rapidly to keep her tears at bay.

Jesse gave her a one armed hug, as the gentleman he is, and soothed her with kind words, saying that she didn't have to explain and that he understood the pain. Ava managed not to cry and just attempted to move the conversation along by asking who everybody was. Of course, Ava already knew everybody. She noticed Jack, Gabriel and Ana had engaged in a conversation beside the energetic children as Ana's little girl Fareeha was one of the children running around playing tag. Gabriel's adopted daughter, Sombra, was standing nearby on her phone - she was almost 17 now and had definitely entered the punk teenager stage of her life by wearing skulls and dark colours, even dying her hair a shade of purple. That was a new edition to her phase and Ava couldn't help but smile knowing the arguments that would have occurred over dying her hair.

Ava also saw Jamison, the skinny clown of the group of friends, standing next to his best friend Mako, who looked like an over-sized bear compared to Jamison's tiny frame. The two were inseparable and they even had the same brand of beer in their hands as they conversed between each other, most likely concocting a plan to embarrass someone or do something completely mad. 

The thing that made Ava smile the most was that everybody was in a costume. Angela was wearing a witch costume, which differed to her usually strict attire. She was a doctor at the local hospital and you almost always saw her wearing her lab coat as she rushed from place to place all the time. She looked beautiful, as she always does, but it made her appear less stressed and the glass of wine in her hand was a rare sight to see. Hanzo and Genji had arrived as Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, happily chatting to everyone and posing for funny photos, tipsy from the amount of alcohol they had drunk since arriving at the party.

"Bella, come over here!" Jesse called out to his daughter once he'd finished introducing 'Annie' to his guests.

The most gorgeous little girl came bounding towards them happily, a huge grin on her face as she jumped into her father's arms. He picked her up, holding her on his hip, facing Ava who just felt so happy that she felt like crying tears of joy. Arabella, with short curly blonde hair, was dressed as a unicorn. She had a little gold headband with a twisted horn on top, with a cute white ensemble with a sparkly tutu. A little tail was attached to the back of the skirt, which made Ava smile. 

"This is Annie, she lives nearby, why don't you say hi?" Jesse suggested, helping her move a piece of hair out of her face.

"Hello..." Arabella whispered shyly, gripping the soft material of her dad's coat for protection.

"Hi sweetheart," Ava gushed, desperate to hold her daughter, "How are you?"

"I'm okay..." She replied quietly, looking into the woman's eyes with her huge blue orbs.

"She is very nervous when she meets new people," Jesse mused, bouncing her in his arms, "aren't you, sweetheart?"

"I know," Ava laughed, then quickly added, "I can see! Hiding behind her daddy's coat! I love your costume baby, you're a very beautiful little unicorn."

"My favourite animal is a unicorn." Arabella announced, a smile playing on her lips.

"No way! Mine too!" Ava replied, pretending to be shocked as Arabella giggled slightly at her expressions. 

The little girl took a small breath before holding her arms out to Ava. Jesse was shocked as the little girl was taken from his arms, watching the woman he knew as Annie get along so well with his daughter. She didn't usually open up to anybody like that and he was completely astonished. He watched the two interact, his heart wrenching as they got on like a house on fire, just like the relationship she had with her mother. 

"Daddy, daddy!" Arabella squealed, catching Jesse's attention, "Aren't Annie's eyes so pretty like Mummy's?"

His heart stopped as the two girls stared at him. In his slightly drunken haze, he tried to concentrate hard on what they were saying but now all he could see was how much they looked alike. Jesse couldn't stop himself form leaning forward and in-hooking the nurses mask from Ava's face. Her button nose and pink lips were revealed and his mouth dropped open in shock. 

"Ava?" He whimpered, caressing her cheek gently as if she were a ghost, "Is - is it really you?"

The reaper never said she couldn't agree when asked who she was, so she merely nodded repeatedly. Tears sailed down Jesse and Ava's cheeks like a river, flowing continuously as they collided into a huge hug. Everybody stood to watch, shocked at the sight of their dead friend standing there with her child and her lover in her arms. Arabella started to wail between them, gripping her mum tightly, never wanting to let go.

"How?" Jesse whispered, holding her close.

"Only for tonight." Ava sighed, looking to the floor to avoid his gaze.

"Well then... we will make it a night to remember." He announced proudly, with a sad smile on his tear-stained face.

He kept his arms around his lover and his daughter, embracing them, knowing that after tonight, he and his daughter would never see Ava again.


End file.
